The crisis of obedience: God's word and Henry's reformation

Abstract

The new political theology of obedience to the prince which was enthusiastically adopted by the Church of England in the 1530s was essentially founded upon Luther's new interpretation of the fourth commandment. It was mediated to an English audience by Tyndale, but his ideas were not officially adopted as early as some recent research has suggested. The founding of royal authority on the Decalogue, and thus on the ‘word of God’, was a particularly attractive feature of this doctrine, which became almost the defining feature of Henrician religion. Rival tendencies within the Church of England sought to exploit it in the pursuit of their particular agendas. Reformers strove to preserve its connections with the broader framework of Lutheran theology, with the emphasis on faith alone and the ‘word of God’, while conservatives strove to relocate it within an essentially monastic tradition of obedience, with an emphasis on good works, ceremonies, and charity. The most significant achievement was that of the Reformers, who established and played upon an equivocation between the royal supremacy and the ‘word of God’ in order to persuade the king to sanction the publication of the Bible in English as a formidable prop for his new-found dignity.

La conversión de los reyes de Inglaterra en monarcas absolutos. La Reforma de Enrique VIII

“…31 Starkey, 1992. 32 Chibi, 1997b;Rex, 1996;Eppley, 2007. más neutral 33 . El fondo era el mismo, pero la forma perdía una arrogancia muy masculina que lo convertía en un insulto.…”

Richard Pate, the Royal Supremacy, and Reformation Diplomacy

“…14 Reginald Pole, that most strident of English exiles opposed to Henry's claims to ecclesiastical supremacy, dominates studies of the conservative Henrician exiles. 18 Some conservative clerics reconciled themselves to the Henrician Reformation by adapting Tyndalian biblical obedience rhetoric in order to promote a conservative stance, 19 but as the works of Ethan Shagan, Marshall, and Paul O'Grady have highlighted, there was considerable variation over the degree and nature of such compromises and accommodations with the Henrician regime, and Catholics were divided amongst themselves. Claire Kellar discussed the Englishmen who sought refuge in Scotland and their importance for the deterioration of Anglo-Scots relations in the 1530s and early 1540s.…”

Erasmus and the Politics of Translation in Tudor England

“…50 This was the great Henrician myth, that the gospel somehow would compel obedience. 51 Gerard also wrote, with reference to reading the gospel, 'surely none but ypocrites or els devilles would go about too stoppe or allure men from suche a treasure and godly study'. 52 This reflected none too well on the king, who had two years before promoted the 'Act for the Advancement of True Religion' which so dramatically attempted to restrict Bible reading to the higher echelons of society.…”